Naruto 1. Prologue

**Prologue**

At age three, she managed to perform perfect fireball jutsu. The people applauded at her, but her parents did not say a word about it.

"You must be his shield." Was what she'd been hearing from her parents ever since her baby brother's born. Soon her parents put some genjutsu on her, which caused other people to regard her as a 'boy'.

At age six, she entered Academy and made top scores in every subject. At age seven, she graduated Academy. Her senseis appraised her, but her parents started to train her little brother instead of her.

At age eight, she activated her sharingan. Her relatives praised at her, but it was her brother who's trained even more harshly.

She always felt sorry for her brother, watching him suffering a hard training, half because of her, since their parents put a harsher training onto him everytime she performed something. Of course, her brother was supposed to be a clan heir, so it's natural for him to have such hard training, but still she felt guilty.

Her brother was a playful child at young age, and he often came back home with wounds, and everytime it happened, she was the one who's punished. She accepted it without a complain, since she always had been feeling guilty for her brother.

"Nii-san." Was what her brother called her. Not "Nee-chan", since everyone except for her parents and clan elders knew of her actual gender.

At age ten, she became ANBU. It was only then when her parents praised her and told her about clan's true purpose; Then they ordered her to be a spy of clan. Reluctant at first, she resisted to her parents for the first time in her life, thus gaining a nasty punishment.

At age eleven, she was approached by Shimura Danzo and other village elders. First they interrogated her testing her loyalty, then offered a suggestion: to be a double agent.

At age thirteen, she became ANBU squad captain, and was approached by Tobi who claimed himself to be Uchiha Madara. Then the elders of the village pulled a trigger, offering her alternative choices. They promised that they'd protect her brother in the end. She accepted it and slaughtered her clan, leaving her brother behind; She just followed what her parents had been telling her always: "Always protect your brother no matter what."

She then joined Akatsuki, and, surrounded by horny criminal males, she spent Seven years there, acting like one of the 'evil males'. Only Konan knew of her secret, since Itachi indeed needed someone to advice upon her first bleeding. The other guys never figured out that she was a girl, not even Leader-sama.

At age twenty, she let her brother kill her, as she'd promised herself. She died as a horrible man.

* * *

.

* * *

She'd never expected to open her eyes again. Anyway, if one could lift its eyelid, it meant it's alive, at least. However she found herself opening eyes, plus with a shocked-looking man in front of her_ who'd been her leader-sama during past years. The man wasn't in his ordinary figure, though: instead of his former sculpture-like face, the man had fluffy white hair with slacked jaw.

"What's going on?" Itachi mumbled in a slightly high voice.

"..Wow." Nagato blurted. "I'd never thought... That I'll see you again. Especially in this state."

"What happened?" She blinked confusedly. "I thought I'm-"

"Dead." The man finished instead, his rinnegan staring up and down at her. "Is this the reason why you've been spending time with Konan?"

Itachi blinked. "Uhm..."

"I never found it out," The man muttered, striding outside of the strange cave they'd been in. Itachi followed him suit, walking along the mountainside, seeing the full view of a forest below and open grass field far away. The geographic layout was similar to the plains of Hi no Kuni.

They sat together on the stools of crushed tree quietly.

"Maybe Madara-" She opened her mouth hesitantly.

"Guess so." Nodded Nagato. He then stared at her again. "But why did you deceive us?"

She sighed, with something like a sardonic smile hanging upon her lips. "It's a long story."

"No wonder that Orochimaru had been trying to get on you." He spat.

"Emme, I'm sorry anyway."

"No need to apologize now, I'm no longer your superior."

Silence resumed for a while.

They both perked up when they noticed something like a vortex coming up from downside of the mountain.

"Somebody's coming." The female mumbled.

"I think I recognize that spiral chakra." The male responded.

They both stood on their feet.

The vortex was coming up so fast, like a whirling wind, as if it's chasing something.

"Coming for us." She commented.

Soon the tornado reached the top of the mountain, and dashed toward the two living-deads. The clouded chakra wind diversed in front of them, revealing two males, one with blacktan skin and white hair, and the other with spiky golden hair and blue eyes.

"Naruto." Nagato winked to the blond boy.

Naruto and Bee seemed to be stunned at first. They gazed at the two aghastly for a while, before the blond broke the silence with shaking voice. "Nagato.. and.. you?" A perplexity rose upon his face as he stared at the dark-haired female.

Itachi merely looked away, letting Nagato to answer. "She's Itachi." He explained. "And I guess it's also your first time to see her true identity, eh?" He smiled wryly then.

"Whoa.. Hold a minute." Killer bee pressed his temple, still not letting go of his usual rapping tune in his speech. "What happened to you? And to that Uchiha?"

"I guess we've been revived by Edo tensei." The former Akatsuki leader responded.

"Well, we predicted something like that, so we've been looking for you... Bu-but- what about him? I mean her?" Naruto pointed at Itachi, who was eyeing them mindlessly. "I thought Itachi's a-"

"Man." The three men muttered altogether. Then they all looked at the Uchiha.

"What's wrong?" The Uchiha asked nonchalantly.

"You're a woman that's what's wrong!" Naruto hissed, gazing piercingly at her with his aqua blue eyes.

"Now calm down..." The female Itachi sighed.

"Calm down?! I don't understand what's going on!" The blonde frantically yelled. As he looked closer at Itachi he saw many notable differences; She had visible curves shaped into the cloak she wore. Her face was gentler that still maintained its paleness. Her eyes were still black orbs, but her eyelashes were longer. And her hair, which had been always tied up in ponytail, was now put down, covering her whole back.

"You will never understand." Itachi said with something like venom in her voice. "It's a complicated story afterward... But anyway, I'm a female by birth."

Killer Bee shuddered, feeling his Gyuuki hollering from inside of him, shocked as well. "Oh, man..."

"But still, why did you disguise as a man?" Nagato questioned to his former subordinate. "It must have been a shitty deal."

Itachi gazed at the baffled males, chewing her lips thoughtfully. "..I'll explain." She mumbled, sitting on the scorch again. The males gathered around her.

With a bit of flush, but still maintaining her usual calm manner, she explained them about her life since her childhood, till the part Sasuke killed her. As soon as her demonstration ended, Naruto clutched his own head and yelled; "It's too cruel! Oh shit, shit!"

Itachi gulped, then exchanged glances with Nagato.

"So your parents forced you to be a boy." Nagato eyed her face carefully. "I should have found it out earlier... and the Uchiha massacre-"

"What's done is done." The Uchiha dropped her eyes.

"But wasn't it so inconvenience? I mean-" Bee scratched his ear. "-Why didn't you just live your own life after they died? Didn't you know how to remove the jutsu?"

"I don't understand it too." Consented Nagato.

She smiled faintly. "I don't know..."

"Your story made Gyuuki sad!" The tanned man rapped again, this time bursting into tears comically.

"Sad?" She tilted her head ironically."What makes you sad?"

Then Naruto looked at her, finally got out of his own shock. "Your life..." His blue eyes shook with a confusion. "You just lived for teme, for that stupid bastard!"

Suddenly Itachi sprang up, her eyes changed. Before Naruto could take any action, Nagato blew him good meters away, yelling; "Watch out!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A giant fireball crashed toward the blonde.

"Shit! They're being mobilized now!" Bee hollered, drawing Samehada to slice through the attack effectively saving both him and Naruto. Then in a second Itachi appeared behind Bee. "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson technique!"

Bee countered with his transformed arm. He used the tentacle to grab Itachi, only for her to disappear in a flurry of crows.

"Don't look at me into the eyes!" The female warned, popping again.

"I can't..." Bee moaned, sweats breaking into his forehead. Fortunately soon Gyuuki broke Bee out of the genjutsu he had already been caught in.

Bee then charged Itachi using his seven swords. She retreated onto Nagato's summoned bird.

"I hate this part." Nagato grumbled as he helplessly summoned his bird and dog.

As Itachi activated her Mangekyō Sharingan, Bee tried to stop her by throwing his sword but then it was repelled by Nagato, who was being forced to attack them as well.

Amidst the chaos, all of sudden Naruto's mouth was opened and a crow came out from it, its one eye visibly red with sharingan.

"What the..?!" Naruto coughed harshly, feeling feathers inside his mouth.

Itachi made some handseal and rested in her place, her eyes turning back to black again. "You remember?" She smirked calmly at the blonde.

Nagato appeared behind Bee and tried to attack him, but Bee quickly countered Nagato's attack with a Lariat. Nagato used the Preta Path's ability to absorb B's chakra, causing him to regain a youthful appearance; red hair flamed like a fire, whilst Naruto was restrained by the invisible chameleon.

"Quick! Itachi!" Nagato shouted helplessly as he's forced to do another attack. Before Nagato could fatally injure B and remove Naruto's soul, they were rescued by Itachi's Susanoo. As Nagato used Chibaku Tensei in an effort to trap them, Itachi shouted: "Attack the center of the sphere!"

Soon, with the combined force of Bee's Tailed Beast Ball, Itachi's Yasaka Magatama and Naruto's Rasenshuriken, the sphere was dispelled.

Peaceful silence fell upon them, at last. Dust began to be settled around the panting males.

"Shit, finally." Nagato moaned. He then turned to the Uchiha, stretching his arm with a great difficulty, to grab her by wrist. "Sorry for that."

"It's ok." Itachi replied in a surprisingly affable tone. "I guess this is the only chance for you to be sealed."

Nagato nodded, then looked at Naruto, who was standing panting. "It's last good bye, finally."

"Nagato." Naruto's voice strained hard. "This world is... I... I already told you before, that I understand you, but now I understand you even more."

Nagato shook his head, smiling sadly. "Naruto... I'll be returning to where our master is, so I can see your story... If you ask me... You're the third part that concludes the series. Save them, save all the human sacrifices like me and this girl...!" Then he was pierced by sword of Totsuka.

* * *

Silence, silence.

Naruto was standing blankly, merely gazing at the dusts Nagato had left behind. His blue eyes were bit bluer now with thoughts flooding in his mind.

Bee slowly turned toward Itachi. "What are you going to do now?" He asked, breaking Naruto from his own reverie.

"I don't know." the Uchiha murmured, calmly looking down at her hands. "I'm tired."

Naruto abruptly whipped around and approached close to the Uchiha, studying her face with his unreadable blue orbs.

Itachi blinked. "What's wrong?"

"You..." Naruto slurred in somewhat hoarse voice. "You're... You..."

"I what?" She knitted her eyebrows.

""You're pathetic." The blonde finally managed to finish his sentence, causing Bee to drop his jaw. "Naru-kun! You're not gonna let us get murdered by this lady?!"

"Pathetic?" She tilted her head, almost naively, revealing her creamy neck. Naruto clenched his fists at this. He felt a shameful horror, though he did not understand his own reason. There could have been anger too but he wasn't sure.

"You're pathetic." He repeated in heated tone. "You made your own life so miserable, all because of your foolish little brother! Why didn't you just live your life?! Why did you just follow their order, even after their death?!"

A flash passed across the female's dark eyes. "What do you know?" Her voice filled with sarcasm. "You don't understand anything, little one. Stop suddenly acting like a wise man just because I'm a woman."

"Do you think teme would be happy for your sacrifice?!"

"He doesn't have to know anything!" Now she raised her tone.

"He already knows half of your secret! Now he wants to crush Konoha for your revenge!"

"Naruto!" Killer Bee yelled to the blonde. Naruto stopped with a flinch, realizing his blunder.

Itachi's eyes widened with a shock. "What?"

The blonde sighed, scolding himself inwardly. "I... I didn't mean to say that it's your fault..."

"I don't care about it. Tell me what happened to Sasuke." She demanded.

Naruto exchanged almost sheepish looks with Killer Bee. "Well.. uh, yeah, teme found out about your reason for Uchiha massacre, by the masked guy Tobi. Now he wants revenge."

"..." The Uchiha contemplated for a while with an unbelieving look on her face. Then biting her lips, she blurted. "It's my fault..."

"Why do you always try to take all the responsibility?" It was Killer Bee who questioned this time, staring at the female rather sympathetically.

"Do I?" She blinked. Strangely, she seemed to be somewhat confused at the accusation.

"You've just said you're tired." The vessel of Gyuuki continued, in his soft, rapping manner. "That means your subconscious already knows that you're sick of playing your role in this world."

"Yeah, yeah." Gyuuki agreed with his container.

She fell silent, dropping her head.

The males waited for a long while before she finally spoke again. "I don't know... It had been so... hard. I.. I can't count how many times I desired a final peace in my life." Her voice began to tremble. "But it's my destiny here in this pathetic world... My life... Ever since I was born, I'd been planned to protect Sasuke."

"That's not you. **How pathetic**-"Naruto's voice abruptly turned weird, his voice echoing like a thunder. His eyes morphing into crimson red of Fox's, the blonde jumped up indignantly. "Damn, Kyuubi! Do not interfere like this! If you want to join us, then tell me frankly that you want to join!"

**"****_I_**** want to join your stupid talks? What makes you so retarded to think like that?!"** Kyuubi growled, like a thunder, giving his vessel a headache.

"Kyuubi, you suck!"

**"What are you going to do, stupid brat?"** The fox snorted, which made the blonde boil, causing Gyuuki and Bee to helplessly muffle their laughter.** "You don't have any right to judge that Uchiha when you yourself is a stupid brat too! Tst! Humans!"**

"Dammit! Kyuubi!" The blonde hollered, enraged. "I'm not judging her!"

**"Oh? Then tell me what you're going to do. Still in 'I-will-bring-Sasuke-back-and-become-a-hero of Konoha-' Mantra?"**

"You BULLY-"

"Hey, Uchiha-san!" Bee suddenly yelled, alerted, when Itachi abruptly whirled around and began to dart away. Naruto alerted at this as well.

"Itachi! Wait! Where are you going?!" He shouted, chasing after the Uchiha speedily. Bee followed him suit with Gyuuki.

"Oh damn, she's so fast!" Cursing under his breath, Naruto accelerated his speed, activating Kyuubi's tails. As he got closer to her, she suddenly slowed her speed, and by the next moment, she stopped at the end of the cliff and jumped down.

Both Naruto and Bee's eyes registered with a shock. "Itachi?!"

Naruto jumped down from the end of the cliff too, forming vortex chakra onto his palms and feet. The Uchiha was falling slowly to the abyss. He flied through the blowing wind and grabbed her by waist, and seconds later, they were both back on the top of the mountain.

"Damn you." Itachi muttered softly, rustling in his arms. "I was trying to do something for myself for the first time in this world."

"Trying to kill yourself like that is pathetic as well." The blonde replied rather calmly. "And beside, I don't think you can die in that way. You can only be sealed back."

"I know. I just wanted to try."

Then they both fell silent.

It was sundown on the forest. The light of dusk poured red, purple, and orange on the trees. A sea of green fire, burning far as the eyes could see. A fiery sunset. Up above, a hawk cried mid flight. The two mindlessly gazed, mesmerized by the beauty of nature.

Itachi merely stared, unable to do anything but stare. Her head was suddenly empty. She didn't know how long she stayed like that, standing there, leaning against the blonde boy, until a sensation broke through her blank reverie. A touch, a hot sensation, on her cheek. She blinked confusedly.

"You're crying."

Crying? She's crying? She brought her finger up to her face. It came down wet and trembling.

From a corner in her mind, a thought passed like a well-trained reaction; _Stop sniveling, Shinobis never cry._ But the voice was small and above it, there were a hundred others, all vying for her attention.

The trees beckoned, green with life. The evening of her old day, the only time which she'd felt truly alive for once;

Hidan, sprawled by riverside, wringing river water from his wet hair. He swore more than thousand times that he'd kill Kakuzu for shoving him into the river. Kisame was laughing at them from underwater. Sasori was throwing one of his wood pieces to Deidara, who was running away pathetically. Konan was gathering strange weeds from the ground, to whisper the Uchiha later, "It's good for period time.". Pein was watching them on the top of the temple, his eyes on Konan and the Uchiha rather interestingly.

They're dead. All dead. She had had a chance to save them. But she hadn't even looked back at the chance. She had been living for her own goal, the only goal, which'd been set by her parents. She hadn't even managed to apologize to Pein about it even when he'd just been beside her while ago.

With tremendous effort, she managed to pull herself back to reality. For a minute, they were silent until Naruto moved. He laid his hand on Itachi's face, wiping her tears away.

"Don't cry." He said softly, looking at her with sky blue eyes. Eyes like Deidara's, that blinked and glanced by the corners like Deidara's.

This jinchhuriki brat wasn't a brat anymore.

"I don't know what to do with a crying girl."

If she could, Itachi would have laughed right there. But for now, she was numb all over. Naruto was still speaking, voice soft and slow like he was speaking to a child.

"You must have been so tired..."

Tired? Yes, she was tired. Her whole life had been just so abused.

"Tell me what you want. I'll do anything to help you."

What she wanted...? She blinked. The voice flowed out from her mouth almost unconsciously.

"I.. I want to live new life, in new world."

Naruto became silent for a while. Then, he suddenly looked up to the sky, hollering like a thunderbolt; "You damn Gods, I hate you! You're gonna pay for this! Damn you, Fuck you!" Thick veins pulsed upon his neck by an uncontrollable rage, as he cursed both his and her fates.

It was then that things started to get strange. This wasn't the first time either of them had overlooked a forest, but it was certainly the first time they had been in one where it was this windy. Together they stared at the sky to see clouds part.

Naruto shouted something, but Itachi couldn't hear it due to the wind and she covered her eyes as the shards of shrapnel from the earth started to fly into the sky. she focused on the gust of powerful wind coming from the sky and, was surprised to see a small tornado appearing. She assumed it was a tornado since it was creating a violent whirlpool.

The clouds started to swirl around the eye of the tornado. Then the eye started to do something that even she did not anticipate; it started to spin like a cyclone, forcing everything around it to be sucked in.

She never remembered hitting the ground.

* * *

.

* * *

Naruto blinked his eyes and looked up to the blue sky and white fluffy clouds. Where had all the darkness gone? He looked around and saw tall trees and green grass. There was not a single hint of destruction anywhere. Had it all been a dream?

**"You idiot!"** His lifetime companion hollered from his mindscape.

He sat up and groaned, cradling his head in his hands and looking for Itachi. If she was here then it couldn't be a dream.

She's curled beside him on the grass.

He crawled toward her and shook her. Soon she opened her eyes, her dark depths staring back at him blankly. "What.. Happened?" She mumbled quizzically.

"I don't know." Then he called his companion. "Kyuubi?"

**"You fools."** The fox replied, angrily, though his voice somewhat sounded strangely amused. **"We're screwed, very, very screwed."**

**Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto.**

**AN: Thanks for reading guys, if you think I should continue, send me a review! I'd love to hear what you think of this story. I don't even know if it is good or not.**


	2. Chapter 1: Knight and Lady

**Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 1. Knight and Lady**

* * *

"I don't understand, what have you done, fur ball?"

**"tst. I hate kits. Why are you complaining to me kit? You've irritated Gods, and I guess Gods decided to do something for it."** The fox chuckled, giving a chill to his prisoner's spine. **"I remember this place, so I can tell you one thing: You're screwed, and thus I'm screwed too. You made us to be shifted in timeline."**

"Shifted in timeline? Like a timetraveller in those stupid fictions? Are you joking with me?"

**"Silence!"** The fox growled, irritated.** "If you want to complain, then complain to Kamis, idiot!"**

"Wa.. Wait, you've just said that you know this place; if we're screwed in timeline, then where are we?"

**"Just prepare yourselves for whatever is coming up. I don't think it'll be that sweet if people here find you two now. And stop whining kit? Her wish is fulfilled anyway."**

* * *

"That's what your companion said?"

Naruto nodded. "I guess he's telling the truth."

Then the Fox again began to growl from his mindscape, grumbling **'when did I ever lied to you idiot'**, but Naruto quickly shut him away.

The two stood on top of the hill with the blond holding Itachi's arm for what seemed like hours. They really couldn't believe that they're screwed within timeline. How would they get a chance here?

"Let's move." Naruto whispered. "We must find out by what time we've been fallen into."

Itachi nodded, but the look in her eyes showed that she had not heard a word he said. Her face now was more colored than earlier, as if she's returned back into a human from living dead. Her pallor had diluted, almost rosy color taking its place on her both cheeks.

"If we're really screwed in timeline, and if Kyuubi knows this place, that means..."

"We must be in somewhere of pastzone." Naruto finished for her, nodding. "Though I don't know by what time we're in."

* * *

Itachi stood on the branch of the tree, looking down at the mountainside with her sharingan.

"Do you see anything?" Naruto shouted from below.

The Uchiha female narrowed her eyes. "Yes, I see... a camp on the valley... Troops."

"Troops?"

"And I see a flag." She narrowed her eyes again. "It's... Halloa, that's Uchiwa."

"Uchiwa?" Naruto blinked quizzically. "But Uchiwa is... the symbol of..."

"My clan." She nodded, jumping down from the branch. Almost instinctively Naruto opened his arms to hold her.

Itachi rolled her eyes, staring at him. "Ok, so just because I'm a girl I'm suddenly totally helpless? I need a big strong man like you to assist me, hmm?"

Naruto gulped and moved his arms away dismissively. "Eh, I didn't mean any offense." He then sighed inwardly. Eventhough Itachi once had been a man, and with gruesome power to slay whole Uchihas, the blonde just couldn't stop feeling a sudden responsibility to protect her. Especially when he'd seen her tears earlier...

Itachi titled her head, revealing her creamy neck once again, her long dark hair shaking gently in a dancing tune. Naruto gazed at her, at her breezy worn-out coat, the soft creamy skin of her neck, the inviting curve and incline of collarbones peeking out from under the hem line. "Alright, anyway, there're Uchiha troops by the valley of this mountain. I guess we're in wartime then."

"Wartime?" Naruto ran his hand over his spiky golden hair. "But what wartime? First Shinobi war..? Second? Third?"

"Or even before that..." She murmured, chewing her fingernail thoughtfully. "That kind of encamp is very old style, such cantonnement along the mountainside..."

"Nah, Spectacular. Do you want to approach to their camp? You're Uchiha, so maybe-"

"Not now." Her voice suddenly sounded like a curt. Naruto's eyes widened at this.

Strange silence resumed for a while before Naruto broke it away. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." She mumbled, sounding somewhat regretful. She looked down at her hands and clenched her fists.

"It's my fault." Naruto shook his head. "You shouldn't be blamed for being reluctant to your own clan..."

"I'm not being reluctant, I'm just... Sick of confronting any of them again." She smiled wryly, then heaved a sigh. "I'm sick and tired of everything, Naruto."

Naruto pulled her closer, whispering again. "Don't think like that. I guess we can use this situation to our benefit... I almost get this feeling that Gods had decided to fulfill your wish."

"Naruto?"

"Wherever we are, I promise, that this time it'll be different."

"Are you sure?" Her voice suddenly trembled. She cocked her head little to stare into his eyes, her dark orbs gazing piercingly at the ocean blue orbs. "Are you sure that you can change something for me?" All of sudden, she was looking like a helpless little girl, whose heart was torn to shreds by abyss of misery.

He gently held her face between his palms. "I'm the third part of the great story, remember? And I think my part belongs to this pastime, to stop the future miseries for everyone, especially for you. You see; I cursed Gods for your fate, and Gods sent both of us to this pastzone. Now listen to me. I'm so used to be a tool, so I'll be your tool this time. Wherever we are, whomever we meet, I'll do anything to protect you and make you happy. Do you trust me?"

Itachi blinked blankly, her dark eyes shaking with confusion. "Why..?" She questioned. "Why are you trying to do this for me? You and I have no relation at all save for Sasuke at the middle. We were not even friends before."

"Because, you're so beautiful." He blurted.

The Uchiha knitted her eyebrow, totally taken aback. "What?"

"You're so beautiful, noble, full of sacred. You're a saint. No one in this world could have sacrificed herself like you, whether a man or a woman." He then laid his hand on her face, caressing her cheek as if he's touching a precious, noble jewel. "If I can't save someone like you, then it means I don't deserve being a third part of the great story."

Silence fell upon them again. It was as if some kind of strange spell was looming around them. The air cooled, a breeze picked up, blowing feathery kisses on their cheeks.

"HEY!"

A bark snapped off their ears, causing the two to perk up immediately.

By the corner of his eyes, Naruto detected around five men in steel armors in good meters away. They looked like ninja's of some sort, but from what village he was unsure. They didn't wear any headbands.

"What are you two doing there?! Who are you?! Which clan are you from?!" One of the men yelled at them, seemingly to be a boss of the group.

Naruto exchanged glances with Itachi.

"Do you think they're..." Naruto whispered.

"I don't think they're Uchihas. Their flag is different." Itachi pointed to the small flag held by one of the strange men. The symbol drawn at the middle of the flag resembled Vajra instead of Uchiwa.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the flag. The symbol looked strangely familiar to him. Where did he see the symbol before?

"Do you think we should attack them?" Itachi asked to him.

"Well... What do you think?"

"I don't think we should make trouble now, since we're not sure of anything yet."

"I think so too." The blonde nodded, holding her by wrist. "Let's take them off first."

The two began to run then, causing the soldiers behind them to chase after, hollering "Stop right there!"

"Your-mama!" Naruto yelled back, accelerating his speed with Itachi. Together they dashed till they reached to the opposite side of the mountain, whereas the strange group of men finally lost their traces.

Seeing that the soldiers were no more chasing after them, the two rested for a while, leaning against an oak tree.

Itachi panted for a while, then suddenly began to chuckle. "What, your mama? That's a stupid joke."

Naruto blushed little. "It's just a habitual joke... Ahem, by the way, the symbol on their flag seemed strangely familiar to me."

"Me too." The Uchiha furrowed her eyebrows, in a surprisingly attractive way. "Where did I see that symbol, hmm... Let's take this step by step." She opened her one finger. "First, there's an Uchiha encampment along the valley." She then opened another finger. "Second, there's another troop here, from another clan. Third, the soldiers asked about our clan, instead of our village. Fourth, it seems like we're in wartime, where the soldiers are putting old style armors and encampment. Guess we got a conclusion already?"

"I remember now!" Naruto snapped his fingers. "The Vajra is a symbol of Senju clan!"

"Exactly. So we're in a clan war era?"

"Yeah, maybe, and even before the foundation of hidden villages." The blonde groaned. "It means then we're in time where Shodaime and Madara must be still alive."

Itachi calmly looked at him. "What are we going to do now?"

"Hmm? Hold a minute, let's concoct some plan-" Slurring the end of his sentence, Naruto blinked as Itachi suddenly whipped her head around toward the opposite direction, eyes changed. "Nani?"

"Naruto... look."

"Huh?"

Naruto studied their surroundings. Vast open grass plain. Few trees dotted the horizon. The sun at the middle of the sky, the air cold. No fog. In the far distance, he made out the silhouette of a battered mountain village. He gaped, staring at the sight, the smokes from the piles of ruined cottages, several corpses sprawled around the area. "What the hell happened there..?"

"Let's see."

They made a straight line towards the mountain village on the horizon. As they reached closer to the area, something appeared. The first corpse turned up, intertwined with another behind it. Men, clothed, in different states of decomposition. Another corpse turned up in the next, woman, half submerged in a water ditch, eyes already picked off by crows.

Then the road opened up, the village they were looking for came into view; a charred black thing, swathed in smoke and flying embers.

They saw the bodies first. It was hard not to with the way they peppered the ground, some already burnt to a crisp. It wasn't a large village – just a dozen cottages and few stables which had corpses of cows inside.

What happened here?

Corpses, battered corpses everywhere around the crushed houses. Then alive fleshes, mostly women and children. Women were carrying their luggage on their back, busily escaping the area, with brats following them desperately. A cacophony of moans and cries rose from the human herd. Among them, one stood out: the screams of a tall boy. Naruto saw him first. He was half-naked, the skin on his torso full of bleeding cuts. His voice was full of grief and despair and he was screaming constantly, "Uchiha! Uchihaaa!"

The cry sent a chill down to the blonde's spine. The views came into his vision like cut-off movie frames. He felt Itachi beside him moving around, approaching to one of the running women.

"Excuse me, what happened here?" The Uchiha female asked, with her eyes dark now like normal people. The old woman stared up at her fearfully forawhile, then soon responded, bursting into a wail. "Burnt, burnt! They'd burned everything! They killed everyone who resisted! The Uchihas!"

Naruto quickly intervened between the two and held the old woman's arm. "Uchihas did this to you? But why?"

"What do we know? We're just tenant farmers who wanted nothing aside from peaceful lives! Then the savages-" The woman sobbed pathetically. "Now you should hurry up too. They'll come back soon to finish the survivors!" Then she whirled around and ran away from their sights.

Naruto and Itachi exchanged glances, sheer panic appearing on both of their faces. "Perhaps the Uchiha troops-" Itachi murmured.

"But why? I mean they're just civilians-"

"Remember that we're in clan war era. Perhaps this village belongs to one of the opposite sides' daimyo. And the Senju soldiers we saw while ago-"

"Must have be there to stop Uchihas." Naruto nodded. He looked around once again, to see everyone desperately running into the forest, probably in a plan to follow the riverstream till they reach out of the mountains. "They'll be found out soon."

Itachi heaved a worn out sigh. "It's gives me a foul taste to look upon a scene of massacre again."

"Itachi-"

"Shh. Somebodies are coming." The Uchiha narrowed her eyes. "They aren't Senju. It's Uchiha."

His shoulders tensing, Naruto slowly moved closer to the female, standing beside her and also looking at the direction she was gazing. "Why don't they just leave us alone for a while?" He grumbled.

"Maybe they came back to finish the survivors, like the woman said.. What do we do now?"

"Let's wait." Clenching his teeth he unconsciously held her shoulder. "Are you okay?" He whispered.

Itachi slowly nodded. "It's okay now."

Soon a troop of Uchiha soldiers appeared, containing about ten men, carrying flag of Uchiwa at the middle, all of them wearing thick leather armors this time. Upon seeing the two, they halted their march and gazed at the two suspiciously.

Naruto alerted when he suddenly felt Itachi's shoulders stiffening. He quickly looked to her face, to find her now crimson eyes shaking uncontrollably with an emotion. He then looked to the spot she's staring aghastly.

He dropped his jaw. "Garrgh, that one looks so much like teme!"

There was a young man standing in head of the group, staring at them as if he's seeing aliens. His hair was duck-ass spiky like Sasuke, and his face was just that of Sasuke, though this one looked bit older_around eighteen or nineteen barely, and the shape of his face was sharper.

No wonder that Itachi became agitated by the look of the man.

Strange, weird silence flowed between the two groups for a quite while, as they stared at each other vacantly, mouths gaped.

* * *

"What are you, threatening lady?" the teme-looking young man spoke up in rather resonant voice, finally, breaking the weird tranquility away.

Naruto blinked. He looked at himself_ at his posture, which his hands were holding Itachi's shoulders. Threatening a lady?

Kyuubi chuckled behind his prisoner's mindscape.

"Who are you? You don't belong to this village." The man spoke to the blonde again. "Name your clan, boy. The lady obviously belongs to our clan. What are you trying to do with her?"

Naruto could hear Itachi's gulping sound. Then they exchanged glances. What the hell?

One of the Uchiha soldiers whispered something to the teme-looking man's ear. The young man nodded, and demanded to the blonde.

"Release the lady and surrender yourself."

"It's getting weird." Itachi whispered to Naruto, voicing finally. "They think you're trying to kidnap me."

The statement froze Naruto momentarily, causing his entire body to tremble with a force of laughter. With tremendous effort he muffled it. Uzumaki Naruto kidnapping Uchiha Itachi? Sasuke would die of laughter if he saw this situation. But Sasuke wasn't here, and there's only Sasuke-looking man, staring at them and demanding him to let go of the lady and surrender! Men, men. To all males, other males were competition, females were opportunity. Lone wandering males were seen as a threat to a group, while on the other hand, lone wandering females were usually welcomed and accepted! They call it war!

"Don't laugh now." Itachi warned him softly. "Uchihas don't like being laughed at their noses."

"I'm trying." he responded with somewhat shaking voice.

"What do we do now?"

"I have a plan. Do you trust me?"

The female furrowed her eyebrows. "What?" However before she could take any action, Naruto suddenly locked his arm around her neck, taking a real 'threatening gesture' as he speedily pulled out a kunai from his pocket and drew it an inch away from her throat.

"What are you doing?" Hissed Itachi, totally perplexed.

"Quiet, just trust me." Then the blonde raised his tone, toward the group of Uchiha soldiers as he was screaming one word over and over at the top of his lungs. "DON'T MOVE! IF I SEE YOU MOVE AN INCH I'LL SPILL HER BLOOD!"

The Soldiers became obviously agitated by this, whilst the teme-looking Uchiha merely frowned. "You fool." He spat. "You're begging for death."

"Try then." the blonde hissed back. "Let's see who falls first. But before that, I want you to listen. NOW!" Exactly at the "now!", he released his chakra equivalent of an storm shock at all the Uchihas save for Itachi. Three soldiers grunted, the rest was stoically quiet. It was needed after all, just to get his point across.

The teme-looking young Uchiha removed his leather gloves from his hands, then ran his sweaty pale hand over his spiky dark hair. "So you wanna deal. Well, tell me what you want."

_Not bad._ thought Naruto as he narrowed his aquamarine eyes, focusing on the young Uchiha male. This guy was taking it seriously, considering the safety of a woman of his clan though he didn't even know her. All just because she's Uchiha, whilst they were going to kill all women of this mountain village! He grinned at the irony. "Simple. I want you to take me to your leader."

"That insolent-" One of the soldiers drew his blade, but the teme-looking man raised his hand as a sign of 'Silence.' order.

"Go on."

"I want you to escort me to your leader, and let me talk with your leader, in exchange for this lady's life. Deal?"

"What are you doing?" Itachi whispered again, confusion filling up within her throat.

"Calm down, I'm finding a way to keep you safe, and me to dig a hole out of this screw."

There's a short pause between the two groups, until the teme-looking man nodded, at last. "Deal accepted."

"You'll keep your word?"

"I honor my word. Now release the lady and surrender your weapons. You can't meet Uchiha leader keeping those things."

With a shrug, Naruto dropped his kunai and released Itachi from his grip. The Uchiha soldiers immediately surrounded them.

"Are you okay?" The teme-looking Uchiha inquired to the female as he covered her shoulders with poncho. Naruto felt another force of laughter at this, seeing Itachi staring at the Sasuke-looking man blanky_ however he quickly muffled his giggle as he felt her deadly glare onto him.

"Let's go." The young Uchiha male ordered then. Soon they all marched back to the way the troop had once climbed onto earlier.

* * *

They made a straight line towards the valley of the mountain. After half an hour of walking, new view appeared. An encamp, stream of dark-haired soldiers roaming around tents like wandering pumas. Smells. Smells of fire and burning corpses. Sweats and ashes. Then sounds. Sounds of yells, cries, cynical laughter.

Naruto scrutinized all of this before throwing a glance to Itachi anxiously. Fortunately she looked calmer than him, though her one hand was pressing her temple as if she's suffering headache or nausea caused by the disgusting scents.

"Arrange yourselves!" Someone hollered to this turmoil. the soldiers gathered quickly and fell in lines, bowing respectfully to the young Uchiha male who's just back from patrol with fellow soldiers. "Izuna-sama!"

The young Uchiha nodded at them . "Get back to your work. Where's my brother?"

"He's in his tent." One of the them replied.

The young Uchiha nodded again, then pointed at his captives with his pale hand. "Tell my brother that I need him immediately. He has a guest."

Stares full of suspicion and animosity fell upon the golden-haired boy. Soon the stares turned into shocked woos when they noticed a figure of female.

"Izuna-sama..?"

"Take the lady to the vacant tent and let her take a rest. She's one of us." He then turned to the blonde, with that teme-looking face. "And you, follow me."

The tent of Uchiha leader was larger than other hundred tents, located at the middle of the encamp. Naruto followed quietly as the young Uchiha led him inside, flapping the cotton door above.

"Izuna...?" A man inside, sitting in front of short-legged wodden table, writing something on the spread scroll which was made of weaved bamboo shells using ink-wet brush, paused momentarily as he saw their entrance. "You're back."

"Nii-san. We got a guest." 'Izuna' then murmured something to the man's ear. The man blinked, his crimson eyes faltered and faded into deep black, the only apparent show of surprise as his control on his chakra faltered momentarily, causing the dispelling of his Sharingan.

"You've got to kidding me." The elder male blurted to his brother.

Meanwhile, Naruto watched them silently, sitting properly and crossing his arms, his blue depths fixed at the leader of the Uchihas. His mind waved like a whirlpool, facing the infamous Uchiha young and alive in front of him right now. He could feel his youki screaming under his skin, shouting at him, telling him to finish the miserable life right away. Unconsciously his chakra was released, creating a vortex breeze around him.

He quickly yanked himself when the Uchihas gave him piercing gazes altogether.

"What do you want?"

_What do I want?_ Naruto took a deep breath. He was going to throw a dice. there's no way to retreat now.

"My name is Naruto." He started. "I have thousand secrets which can blow your clan at one finger gesture. I want you to listen to me, and do what as I tell you."

"And why should we?" The elder one of the brothers demanded, seemingly somewhat amused.

"Because I'm kinda awesome."

...

Naruto could feel the Uchihas' eyes turning crimson, obviously irritated at his manner. Their faces reversed their coloration from rapidly reddening to rapidly whitening as though someone was forcing hot balls down their throats and they were choking on. Still, they remained silent, waiting for Naruto's next word.

"The lady which I'd been holding up whileago is a direct descendant of Amateratsu Omikami. I, as a Kurama in a human form, is her escort warrior, and my first mission ended when your clansmen came for her. Now I'll tell you what my second mission is." _Itachi, don't murder me for this please._ He could hear his lifetime companion growling from his mindscape, complaining; **"You're being unfair. _I_ being a human for as _you_? You damn kit-"** He quickly shunned the fox away, blocking him behind the mindscape.

Silence again, this time of shock and suspicion.

"Proof." The younger of the brothers spat this time. "Do you have any proof?"

"Hah!So you want a proof. You humans always doubt, thus gaining a regret in the end." The blonde sneered. Soon his eyes morphed, as he released Kyuubi's chakra, transforming himself into nine-tails chakra mode. Color of his eyes changes from blue to orange while the demon fox shroud was red and released chakra as acidic bubbles, the form's shroud was yellow and released chakra as flickering flames.

In a second he returned back to his 'human form'. "So, are you paying attention now? Or are we going to play this until I get you suffocated?"

Silence, silence.

The Uchiha brothers exchanged glances, with calm and poker-faced countenances which amused the blonde by far. Then ignoring the silence he continued again. "Here's what I want you to do now: Retreat from this mountain, since Senju warriors are here for a clash. Now, now, don't be irritated, I'm not telling you to run away like a dog with his tail coiled. I want you to retreat to your own land, and let the lady rest in peace for a while; She's the descendant of Goddess of your clan, so treat her well, while I go to Senju clan to finish my second mission. Understood?"

Another short silence passed between them. Naruto waited calmly, waiting for their response.

Uchiha Madara stared back at him. He looked calm. His face held none of his anger, nor did it hold any inkling to what the man was thinking. He simply stared.

* * *

_"Stop sniveling!" Her father yelled at her. "Shinobis never cry, especially males! How do you expect yourself to protect your brother with that state?!"_

_She was panting_ in her male-figured body, her shirt torn to shreds due to a nasty thrashing. She gulped, coughing as she chocked with her sobs. Her mother was in other room, as she always did everytime this thing happened._

_"Uchiha clan had been abused during the history." Her father growled at her, grabbing her ponytail and looking at her into the eyes. "Now it's our time to regain our former honor and power. Do you understand now? Or are you gonna go against the clan?"_

_"Itachi!" Somebody called._ "Itachi-"

She lifted her eyelids with a start, feeling cold sweats streaming over her face. She blinked confusedly when she met with a pair of ocean blue eyes which was looking down at her anxiously.

"Are you okay? You look so pale." The blonde muttered.

Itachi closed her eyes for a while and shook her head, yanking herself back to the reality. "Naruto..." She mumbled, soon to flinch when she felt the boy's hand squeezing her own.

"Itachi, listen. I've just talked with Madara."

"You met Madara?" Her eyes widened. "So he's really alive. And we're really screwed."

The blonde nodded. "He's better yet than what I'd expected him to be. Now they'll retreat soon to their own land. " He then described about what had happened while ago. As soon as his demonstration ended, Itachi shook her head vigorously, feminine anger filling up within her throat. "I, a descendent of Amateratsu Omikami and you a human form of Kyuubi? Damn you, you're not gonna leave me alone surrounded by Uchihas?"

"Hey, please, calm down and listen to me. I'm not leaving you among these people forever. But I need you to keep an eye on them till I finish my business with Senju clansmen."

"This is stupid! What are you going to do with Senjus?! Do you think you can deceive either of them forever?" Her eyes flashed. "You stupid brat, they're men of legends. No matter how much of information we have from those silly history books, they're not a piece of meat!"

"Itachi, please." He patiently muttered, holding her shoulders with his hands. "I need you to trust me. I can do it. And as I promised, I'll make it different for you this time. I'm not leaving you so long. I'll return to you soon, and if you need me by any chance, just blow whistle. Then I'll come running."

Her dark orbs glared at him fiercely. "You fledgling... What's on your mind? Tell me about your damn plan. What will you do?" _What will you do, huh, little boy?_ She thought in her head, waiting for the answer. _What will you do? Will you keep on playing your hero game? _

Naruto withdrew his hand, then he answered, all of sudden sounding not so young anymore.

"I'll put the clans under alliance..." A long, long pause. "...To uprise against Daimyos. then I'll create Autocracy instead of hidden villages. I'll make you an Autocrat."

Itachi went speechless.

**If you can, please write a review to this story. I'm really looking forward to know what you really think of it, and also your suggestions.**

**If there is any grammatical or vocabulary mistake, I'm sorry, since I'm not a native speaker.**


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Naruto, Adventure, Romance